Mountain 1st wins auction of Sam Neill's property

Published: Friday, July 12, 2013 at 2:17 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 12, 2013 at 2:17 p.m.

Mountain 1st Bank won the auction of former attorney Sam Neill’s lakeside property without contest in front of the Henderson County Courthouse Friday morning.

Neill, a disbarred Hendersonville attorney currently serving a federal tax fraud sentence, was also sentenced to six to eight years in state prison for embezzling close to $2.5 million from clients between 2000 and 2010, including roughly $884,000 from a charitable trust.

Neill defaulted on a $1.69 million loan on the land from Mountain 1st. Prior to Friday’s auction, Mountain 1st submitted an offer of $1,652,585 for the 1.59 acres of property, which includes Neill’s 5,000-square-foot home, boathouse and access to Lake Summit, substitute trustee Jeffrey K. Stahl told the 15 observers in attendance.

Stahl opened the bidding at that amount. No one offered to counter.

Friday’s auction was the second fire sale of Neill’s residential property at Lake Summit. Creditors and the families of trusts he confessed to embezzling nearly $2.5 million from hope an eventual sale of the land will make good on Neill’s promises of restitution.

Attorney Phillip Feagan, representing the estate of Ruth Danis, which lost at least $850,000 and now claims to be owed $1.1 million, won the auction of a smaller portion of Neill’s property Thursday. Feagan offered $750,000 for the .81-acre parcel on North Lake Summit Road, which adjoins the property auctioned Friday.

Since both the estate and the bank own rights to the properties, neither will have to pay the auction prices. Feagan said the Danis estate “purchased the property to further its efforts to obtain restitution out of the property’s eventual sale.”

On June 19, a Superior Court clerk found Neill, 63, had defaulted on the $1.69 million note with Mountain 1st secured by a deed of trust and the foreclosure sale of three separate tracts that make up Neill’s home overlooking the lake.

County tax records indicate Neill’s home is assessed at $418,000 and the land, including a lakeside strip with boathouse, is worth $402,500.

Neill began serving his federal prison sentence June 10 in a medium-security facility in Jesup, Ga.

<p>Mountain 1st Bank won the auction of former attorney Sam Neill's lakeside property without contest in front of the Henderson County Courthouse Friday morning.</p><p>Neill, a disbarred Hendersonville attorney currently serving a federal tax fraud sentence, was also sentenced to six to eight years in state prison for embezzling close to $2.5 million from clients between 2000 and 2010, including roughly $884,000 from a charitable trust.</p><p>Neill defaulted on a $1.69 million loan on the land from Mountain 1st. Prior to Friday's auction, Mountain 1st submitted an offer of $1,652,585 for the 1.59 acres of property, which includes Neill's 5,000-square-foot home, boathouse and access to Lake Summit, substitute trustee Jeffrey K. Stahl told the 15 observers in attendance. </p><p>Stahl opened the bidding at that amount. No one offered to counter.</p><p>Friday's auction was the second fire sale of Neill's residential property at Lake Summit. Creditors and the families of trusts he confessed to embezzling nearly $2.5 million from hope an eventual sale of the land will make good on Neill's promises of restitution.</p><p>Attorney Phillip Feagan, representing the estate of Ruth Danis, which lost at least $850,000 and now claims to be owed $1.1 million, won the auction of a smaller portion of Neill's property Thursday. Feagan offered $750,000 for the .81-acre parcel on North Lake Summit Road, which adjoins the property auctioned Friday. </p><p>Since both the estate and the bank own rights to the properties, neither will have to pay the auction prices. Feagan said the Danis estate “purchased the property to further its efforts to obtain restitution out of the property's eventual sale.”</p><p>On June 19, a Superior Court clerk found Neill, 63, had defaulted on the $1.69 million note with Mountain 1st secured by a deed of trust and the foreclosure sale of three separate tracts that make up Neill's home overlooking the lake.</p><p>County tax records indicate Neill's home is assessed at $418,000 and the land, including a lakeside strip with boathouse, is worth $402,500. </p><p>Neill began serving his federal prison sentence June 10 in a medium-security facility in Jesup, Ga.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>